Apple iPhone XS Max vs Samsung Galaxy Note9: beast mode on

“The Galaxy Note9 and iPhone XS Max are the most loaded smartphone offerings from their respective brands”

One’s a phone that has been around since the start of last month, and one has just been announced following a ton of leaks. The latter is, of course, the iPhone XS Max. As weird as the name sounds, it’s also Apple’s boldest iPhone yet, what with a massive 6.5-inch OLED panel and a 7-nanometer chip at its core. But the Galaxy Note9 (review) can also be branded as Samsung’s boldest smartphone to date, for its huge battery and its Bluetooth-equipped S Pen. If you have that kind of cash, you’re bound to be torn between the two devices. Let us try to make the decision process simpler for you.

Design and display

The bigger display obviously means a larger body than any previous iPhone. The XS Max is a 157.5 x 77.4 x 7.9mm slab which is still smaller than the Note9 which measures 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm. But it’s important to note that the Galaxy device does not have a notch on its display, thus rendering a more immersive viewing experience. It’s no surprise that the new iPhone does not feature a headphone jack, and this is where the Note9 shines with the inclusion of one. IP68 dust and waterproofing have made its way onto both these handsets, and they both have their respective NFC-based payment systems integrated as well.

If you’re a fan of the stylus, the Note9’s new and improved S Pen will really catch your imagination. It allows you to perform tasks like remote capturing of photos, playing/pausing music and much more. This is one department where Apple still hasn’t ventured into. Visually, both the phones are extremely attractive and come in a variety of colour options.

Coming to their displays, the iPhone XS Max ships with a 6.5-inch OLED panel, while the Note 9 features a slightly smaller 6.4-inch Super AMOLED monitor. Both of them are HDR10 compliant, but the Apple device has two major advantages in the form of its 120Hz refresh rate and the 3D Touch technology. While the Samsung device has been coated with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, the new iPhone has adopted an unnamed glass panel which is touted to be the ‘strongest smartphone glass ever made.’

Hardware and software

The key here is A12 Bionic, Apple’s new 7-nanometer chipset with a hexa-core CPU and a quad-core GPU. The company still chooses to stay mum when it comes to RAM, but a 4GB module is said to have gone inside the phone. There’s no doubt this will translate into super speedy performance, considering the iPhone XS is already extremely fast and the new chip is supposed to be significantly faster than the one on last year’s iPhone. 64GB, 256GB and 512GB will be the storage options that will be at your disposal.

The Note9 comes with an Exynos 9810 chipset at its heart. This SoC includes a 2.7GHz octa-core processor, which has proved itself to be very impressive till now. Going for the 6GB RAM variant gives you 128GB of storage, but opting for the beefier 8GB RAM model gives you 512GB of space. On top of that, the Note9 also has a microSD card slot, which is something the iPhone still has not been able to implement.

Coming to the software side of things, iOS 12 has finally understood the importance of grouping notifications from a single app. This will make the notification screen a lot cleaner and easier to access. And then there’s Screen Time, a feature meant to give you insights upon your app usage habits. This trait also lets you limit the usage of certain apps in case you feel like you’re wasting too much time on them. Other highlights of iOS 12 include Memojis, advanced Photo search and more.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Note9, its software hasn’t changed much over its predecessors. New S Pen traits are a given, but what’s completely fresh is AI-based scene recognition for the camera. This software is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, and when it does get an upgrade to Pie, you can expect something along the lines of Screen Time entering the Samsung realm as well.

Camera and battery

The iPhone XS Max, just like last year’s iPhone X, features two 12MP cameras, but they get a number of improvements as well. A refreshed True-Tone sensor is one of the new additions, but much of your attention will be grabbed by the Smart HDR feature that Apple has introduced with this phone. This iPhone will also have the option of adjusting focus after the image has been clicked. In case you’re wondering, both the cameras have been equipped with OIS. Coming to the front camera, it’s still a 7MP unit, but with a better sensor than last year.

The dual camera system on the Galaxy Note9 includes a 12MP primary shooter with a variable aperture lens. This OIS-equipped camera switches from f/2.4 to f/1.5 if the light is low. The secondary camera is also 12MP in resolution and delivers a f/2.4 aperture opening. The headlining trait of this camera is its ability to shoot 960fps slow-motion videos. And it’s worth noting that both the phones can shoot 4K videos at 60fps. The front camera on the Note9 is an 8MP unit. The Samsung phone wins in the battery department with its massive 4,000mAh power pack. The iPhone XS Max’s 3,300mAh cell is still respectable though. And it’s great that both the phones support fast and wireless charging.

Conclusion

Both the iPhone XS Max and the Samsung Galaxy Note9 are meant for those who crave massive, powerful phones. And they have equally massive price tags as well. They don’t seem to be lacking in any major department, so at the end of the day, the choice is eventually going to boil down between Android and iOS. Tell us which one you’d rather buy.

from 91mobiles.com https://ift.tt/2N5R4KW
>